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Chapter 29: Tangible

Night had fallen upon them. Evening came early, as it usually did at the time of year, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. It was still no different than any other night, though.

Roger and Hunter had spoken of many things, mostly their history and interests. It was as the fox had expected: the wolf enjoyed pretty simple things, though he seemed to have a taste for art. He did veer away from it, though, after his father had left. Still, he was willing to try many things, the fox having discerned as such after suggesting other activities.

Video games and television and books and movies did not seem to appeal too well to the wolf, but he was open to them. It was what the fox enjoyed, but he did not pretend to believe that his hobbies extended to others.

They were from different worlds, as it were. The wolf's family was poor because of the poor familial situation and move. Even back where he was from they did not have too extravagant of a house, but it was still bigger than this one, with a larger yard. The land was sizeable, but they did not have enough money to build on it anymore than what was already there. Still, they made the best of it.

It was a contrast from the fox's home: the land was relatively small, but the house was large, on top of it also having a second floor and attic. They had no reason to move, so they did not. At first, it was fairly empty around them, but the booming real estate in the area caused their house to be surrounded with many, many others. Schools were built, parks, other public facilities, everything grew.

However, when the market took a hit, many of the fox's neighbors began to change. Some of his friends moved, some remained. The wolf did not have to worry about that so much, since he had no friends to really lose in that way.

Roger learned that the two previously mentioned brothers were the only siblings that the wolf had. He already met one of them, the little wolf. There was an older one, somewhere, that had gotten married and departed. At least, in that sense, Hunter was not alone, unlike Roger, who had no siblings.

Hunter's mother had called them for dinner. She was surprised at the food that they had received, wondering at first the origin of it, but it was explained. Hunter, too, had wondered why the fox had bought so much food, and when he told them that it was for them, they seemed to be in disbelief, Hunter more so than his mother.

He was thanked, and they ate. They did not use the food that the fox had bought, since they had only identified it as their own only after dinner had been prepared. Roger had not even noticed when the mother had returned, and had nearly forgotten that the younger brother had never left. In regretted having had the small incident with the wolf, since now that he thought about it, the younger wolf could easily have entered at any moment, and then things would have been impossible to talk his way out of.

After dinner, the young wolf stayed behind to help with the dishes. Hunter and Roger went back to the room and sat on the bed. He felt warm and sleepy from the food, albeit the meager amount. He never had really eaten too much anyway, and was still stuffed from lunch. He laid back and closed his eyes for a moment.

Suddenly, he was overcome with drowsiness. He had fought to keep up with the wolf the entire day, physically and mentally, and for the time it seemed to be of no real effort, but now that he had a chance to rest, the fatigue hit him all at once. He could feel sleep slowly gripping him, and he opened eyes back up.

Hunter asked, "What's wrong? Your eyes are all red."

It took him a moment to comprehend what the wolf had said to him, and when he finally did understand it, he responded, "I'm just... just a little tired, I guess. I just feel drained, I'm sorry."

The wolf nodded. "It's alright. It's dark out anyway. Probably time to sleep."

Roger took a deep breath to revitalize himself a little, then got up with some exertion. He said, "Alright, I'll give you back your bed."

The wolf nodded. The fox laid down on the floor and grabbed the blankets that the wolf provided him. It did not take too long for him to drift to sleep, as tired as he was. He almost felt that it was a shame to be gone so quickly, but it was out of his control.

it was a dreamless sleep, however. He was too tired to even dream, but something kept interrupting his slumber. He woke once and checked his watch. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

He inspected his environment. It was dark and the wolf could be heard softly snoring on the bed beside him. It was only maybe an hour after having fallen asleep that he had woken, and he felt groggy and tired. He turned around to face away from the wolf and slept on his side. This time he did dream, though.

He was back in school, and his friends were around him. Everything seemed normal, except at the time, no one paid any attention to him. He guessed he did not mind, it gave him some peace.

The vixen passed him, and immediately he grew nervous. In his mind, he envisioned her as an extremely beautiful fox, and he was smitten from the very moment his eyes gazed upon her, yet he could not act. He had no fear, though. He did not hesitate; he walked up to the vixen, introduced himself, but stopped midway when she did not respond. She continued walking.

He reached out to touch her, but his paw passed through her. Alarmed, he returned back to his friends, and attempted to touch them. He maintained his incorporeal state. He began to panic, and suddenly, he saw the rest of the school bloom into a dense populace. He saw all the faces he knew, but could interact with none of them.

He felt something warm behind him. It wrapped around him, and he felt as if he was being pulled away from the school. No sooner than he had thought that was happening that he began to fly far away from his school, into the void. Everything was black.

He opened his eyes, confused. For a moment he could not see anything, then his eyes adjusted, and he noticed that it was merely dark in the room. He could still hear the wolf's snoring, but it was different. Louder.

He felt warm, almost overheating. He motioned to remove his blankets, but there was an obstruction.

He moved his paw, managed to remove part of the blankets that he realized he had been lying on, and then felt that feeling he had felt in his dream, and became anxious again.

He moved his arm behind him and felt a figure, and he knew what it was. He blushed and stopped fidgeting around. He did not want to ruin the moment. He knew he did not need to panic anymore.

He shut his eyes and attempted to fall back asleep. He felt safe, there in the wolf's arms.